Monday, June 25, 2012

From ConEd to shining ConEd





Sunset on East 14th Street this evening ... via EVG reader Emily...

I Know What You Did Last Summer



Really like this photo that @farrisXe took on the Bowery during the late afternoon storm today.

[Updated] New red-tailed hawk delights crowd in Tompkins Square Park, eats pigeon

This afternoon before the storm, Bobby Williams and peter radley noted the arrival of a new adult red-tailed hawk in Tompkins Square Park...






[Top 3 photos by peter radley]

The hawk dined on pigeon.






[Top 3 shots by Bobby Williams]

And thanks to EVG reader John Iz for some photos as well...

UPDATED:

Thanks to Jacquelyn Gallo for sending us this video of the red-tailed hawk in action yesterday...

Wet yarn



An Olek cart on East Seventh Street ... photo by Marjorie Ingall.

Here is what's left of the tree that fell this morning on East 14th Street

EVG reader Joe provides the update...



Ugh.

Earlier today on EV Grieve:
Large branch falls on East 14th Street

Updated: Life Cafe closing Bushwick outpost

We just received a news release... nine months after closing Life Cafe on East 10th Street and Avenue B, owner Kathy Kirkpatrick is retiring and shutting down her Bushwick outpost of the restaurant after Saturday night.

Updated 3:02:

According to the Life Cafe website, "A new café/bar will open immediately thereafter under a new name."

Kirkpatrick also writes that her Bushwick landlord announced a few months ago that he would not renew the Life Cafe lease.

Per Kirkpatrick: "I’ve finally come to terms with the events of the last year. My husband John and I have gotten over our disbelief, anger and sadness at losing both places in one year."

The Brooklyn outpost of Life opened in 2002 on Flushing Avenue.

Previously.

More details about Friday afternoon's stairwell collapse at 86 E. Fourth St.

As we reported Friday afternoon, emergency crews responded to a report of an accident inside 86 E. Fourth St. at Second Avenue... According to witnesses, a woman was leaving the building, and the landing on the third-floor staircase collapsed and she fell through to the next floor.

EMTs took her to a hospital. We do not know her condition at the moment.

Meanwhile, Occupy East 4th Street has more details on the accident. Yesterday, the blog noted that the following flyer appeared (after the collapse).



The firefighters reportedly built a temporary landing before leaving. Occupy East 4th Street had this account from a witness at the scene Friday afternoon: "The thing about this is that there were tons of cops and firemen around, but none of them were asking questions of the construction crew, unless they were doing that inside. I didn't see any workers going in or out of the building, and I'm guessing they ran as soon as the accident occurred."

As we've been reporting, RURU & Associates purchased the building last fall ... residents have said that the new owner and management — ID'd by multiple readers and tipsters as the (Oheb)Shalom family — are declining to offer new leases as current tenant leases expire.

Find further coverage of 86 E. Fourth St. here.

Have other tips or photos about the situation here? Please send them our way via the EV Grieve email

[UPDATED] With new restaurant opening this week, will Extra Place finally become a dining destination?

Late last week, workers installed new planters in Extra Place...




[Top two photos by Bobby Williams]

They are part of the sidewalk cafe for a new restaurant called Heidi that is apparently opening some time later this week... that's according to one of the workers at the space this past weekend...

UPDATED 2 p.m.

Heard from the folks helping to open the restaurant. Important clarification here:

"While this week was the original opening timeframe, some construction delays have set the restaurants back. We don’t have an exact date yet, but it’s coming up – just not this week.

"The restaurant at 8 Extra Place will be called Extra Place, and it’s Mediterranean; the one at 6 Extra Place will be called Heidi, and will serve Swiss cuisine. They’re under the same ownership."







We don't know much about what's coming here... well, it looks nice anyway. The proprietors were on April's CB3/SLA agenda. According to documents on file with CB3, the restaurant will serve Swiss and Mediterranean fare... with 16 table and 46 seats... featuring a beer and wine license with a sidewalk cafe...

Anyway, we're sure that one of the excellent restaurant-nightlife sites will have a preview offering more details about the restaurant. We're a little more curious if the new restaurant, which looks to open at 10 a.m., will be the thing to finally help transform Extra Place into some kind of destination...

About five-plus years ago, we first heard of the plans the developers of Avalon Bowery Place had for the former shit-strewn alley that ran behind CBGB — "a slice of the Left Bank, a pedestrian mall lined with interesting boutiques and cafes."


It hasn't been easy. Businesses have come and gone. It took four years to finally replace the roadway with a sidewalk and add lights.

So Extra Place will have two restaurants (the other being Oaxaca Taqueria) with sidewalk cafes... plus, there's the high-end eatery taking over the former Bowery Wine Co. space across East First Street... (And not sure where the promised commissary from DBGBer Daniel Boulud fits into all this... UPDATED: See comments for more on this.) Is this all enough to ward off the ghosts of the Bowery's past?

[Extra Place, one day some years back]

Previously on EV Grieve:
Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Meanwhile, Extra Place continues to maintain its proud heritage

Looking at Extra Place

Large branch falls on East 14th Street

EVG reader Joe reports that, just before 6 a.m., a large branch of the flowering pear tree outside the Duane Reade on East 14th Street near First Avenue split and fell...





No word on the shape of the rest of the tree...

Here is the new home for the Lower Eastside Girls Club


[ Elise Shin/HPD via Facebook]

Last Thursday, workers removed the sidewalk bridge along the front of the new Lower Eastside Girls Club Center for Community on Avenue D...

And here's how it's looking as of yesterday...









The 30,000-square-foot building will include 78 affordable and market-rate rental residences, a community facility and retail space ... not to mention an Airstream trailer... and Tyra Banks.

(Here's the official news release from 2010 with more details on what the HQ will house.)

On Oct. 29, 2010, the Lower Eastside Girls Club held their official groundbreaking here between Seventh Street and Eighth Street.

More details on all this later.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Passion and progress at the new home of the Lower Eastside Girls Club

Why there's an Airstream trailer inside the new Lower Eastside Girls Club home

Ray's is now selling popcorn



Introduced last week here at Ray's Candy Store ... $1 for a pretty nice size cup of popcorn.

Like this...


[Photo of Ray by Shawn Chittle]

21 E. First St. rises

Every so often we'll check in on the progress at 21 E. First St. at Second Avenue...

Jan. 7.


June 23.





Coming soon. A 12-story apartment building. Previously.

Beyond Sushi is the name of the restaurant taking the Royal Wigs space

Well, uh, the headline kind of says it all ... just a quick follow-up to our post last Tuesday about the sushi-vegetarian place taking over the Royal Wigs space on Ihop Way on East 14th Street ... the sign is now up for the new restaurant...



Seeing this reminded me that I have never tried any of the places on the north side of East 14th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue... like Hawkers... or Bite... or 211 New Taco Grill... any of these places worth a visit?

Perhaps the new owners of 200 Avenue A would consider straightening up their front windows



Some folks along Avenue A here between 12th Street and 13th Street are wondering if the new owners of the storefront at 200 Avenue could tidy the windows up... Considering how long and hard the owners fought to open their restaurant-bar-gallery concept and all...

Chico's latest ad mural on East 10th Street

On Friday, Bobby Williams spotted Chico creating a new ad on East 10th Street at Avenue C...



...and the finished product for El Camion, the restaurant on Avenue A at East 12th Street...



P.S.

Earlier this month, Chico touched up the murals outside the Nuyorican Poets Café on East Third Street...



Sunday, June 24, 2012

From the EV Grieve Lost and Found



Hey, in case you dropped your prescription today on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place... we have it in safe keeping. Please leave a comment with proof that this belongs to you and we will return it.

Via ‏@saywhatagain

Memorial grows for Roxana Sorina Buta on Union Square


[Bobby Williams...click on image to enlarge]

Roxana Sorina Buta was returning to her East Harlem home from her job as a waitress at Bar 6 on Sixth Avenue and 13th Street on May 24. She was reportedly crossing Broadway at East 14th Street when a dump truck struck and killed her. She would have been 22 last Thursday.

According to DNAinfo, Buta's family's lawyer, Joseph Tacopina, said police are questioning a Department of Transportation driver about the hit-and-run.

Per Tacopina: "They're still investigating and determining whether to charge [the driver] with a crime or not. The city is being incredibly derelict in resolving this issue."

Said Roxana's mother, Cristina Oprea, of her only child: "Nothing will bring me peace ever again. I need justice for my daughter."

Mystery Lot Book Club

Week in Grieview


[Above Avenue C yesterday]

Cabrini Center closing Saturday on Avenue B and East Fifth Street (Friday)

Rumors about the future of the Bowery Poetry Club (Thursday)

Video: Summer in the East Village circa 1991 (Wednesday)

Dangerous intersections on the Bowery (Monday)

'Boardwalk Empire' films on East 12th Street (Wednesday)

Jane's Sweet Buns is closed for now (Monday, Thursday)

No urine for this tree (Thursday, 18 comments)

Starbucks sidewalk cafe reopening on Second Avenue (Tuesday)

Last night at Nice Guy Eddie's (Monday)

Rentals at 219 First Ave. hit the market (Friday)

Tahini closed for good on Third Avenue

[June 2]

Back on June 1, the DOH temporarily shuttered Tahini on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place. According to DOH records, the city issued 79 violation points, including for:
• Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room. Hot and cold running water at adequate pressure to enable cleanliness of employees not provided at facility. Soap and an acceptable hand-drying device not provided.
• Food not protected from potential source of contamination during storage, preparation, transportation, display or service

The restaurant never reopened.... and this morning, we spotted workers cleaning out the space...



The supervisor confirmed that Tahini was closed for good.

As you may recall, back in January, Eater reported that Michael "Bao" Huynh was taking over the Tahini space ... and opening an "Old School Style Philly" cheesesteak place called — Mikey's Cheese Steak. However, the Tahini owners followed up later saying that they had no plans to close.

Perhaps the new Bao concept is back in play then.

The Amazing Spider-Man



Above the Bowery and Great Jones this morning...

Sassy



Spotted along the wall outside the Stone on East Second Street at Avenue C...

And the Observer had a much better photo of this last week...



And the background about what all these means is at WWD.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Reader report: Man arrested for carrying machete on Avenue A



Earlier this afternoon, several readers noted an arrest on Avenue A near Sixth Street... two of the residents claimed that the man who the NYPD arrested was carrying a machete. Shawn Chittle, who took this photo, was on the scene and noted that the police were not saying what happened...

Annual Anthology Film Archives benefit happening Monday night

From the EV Grieve inbox...


[Bush Tetras photo by Laura Levine via the Anthology]

Anthology Film Archives will hold its Annual Film Preservation Honors and Benefit on Monday June 25, from 7-10 pm at The Standard, New York in the High Line Room + Terrace, 848 Washington Street at West 13th Street

The benefit will feature cocktails, hors d'oeurves, and a performance by the Bush Tetras with special guests Richard Barone and Felice Rosser. The event also includes raffle to win prizes including a visit to the set of BOARDWALK EMPIRE; VIP tickets to the COLBERT REPORT; and a private screening at Anthology. Winners will be announced at the event; ticket purchasers do not need to be present at the event to win the raffle!

Ticket information right here.

Each year Anthology Film Archives honors those who have made important contributions to our collective film heritage at its Film Preservation Honors and Benefit, which also supports Anthology’s ongoing film preservation and public screening programs.

For its honorees this year, Anthology is very pleased to honor Cinetech, The Women’s Film Preservation Fund, and Richard Pena for their work in the field of film preservation.

All proceeds from the benefit support Anthology Film Archives, which has been dedicated to preserving, presenting, and promoting independent, non-commercial, and avant-garde cinema for over 40 years.

Still dog life in Tompkins Square Park

From the Tompkins Square Park Dog Run via EVG regular peter radley...